should have sent her to my gentle little friend Mrs Gres- shall she come ?" "When you please, sir." "To-morrow, then, at twelve." He shut the door; Mrs Gresham rang the bell; and Mrs Hylier, in a weak fit of uncontrollable vexation, burst into tears. On this point Count Rumford made experiments which settled the question in the affirmative; or, what is the same thing, he ascertained "that those substances which part with heat with the greatest facility or celerity, are those which acquire it most readily, or with the greatest celerity." Dr Stark was curious to learn if this doctrine held good with those variously coloured bodies, which he had ascertained to be absorptive in proportion to the intensity of their colours. Reversing the former experiments, he found black wool fall from 150 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit in 21 minutes, red wool in 26, and white in 27 minutes. He coloured wheat flour, and found black descend through the same range in 9 minutes, brown in 11, yellow in 12, and white in 12 minutes. The same results were found with the ball of an air-thermometer variously "Could it be possible that he intends to marry," sug-monstrated that "differently coloured substances poscoloured; so that he considered himself as having degested Mrs Gresham. "Did you ever know such a savage ?" exclaimed Mrs Gresham. "I am sure you have no reason to complain---if it was not for the hold he has over Hylier" "I wonder if she is any relation of his ?" said Mrs Gresham, who was a little given to romance. "Not she, indeed; he is as proud as Lucifer, and has money enough to enable him to live in a palace." she finds all out." Marry, indeed; would any man that could prevent it, sess a specific influence on the absorption of heat or permit the woman he intended to marry to be a gover-caloric, both luminous and non-luminous; and that ness ? No. I'll trouble my head no more about it; let her they give off their caloric in the same ratio as they come; one is pretty much the same as another; the only absorb it." thing that really gives me pain is, that Mrs Ryal should Dr Stark's remarks on this conclusion are of great have heard so much of it; she's a regular bell-woman; value. "The demonstration," he says, "of the influlikes to have the earliest information of whatever goes on ence of colour on the absorption and radiation of cain the world, so as to be the first to set it going. She was loric, may tend to open up new views of the economy the means of the dismissal of five governesses only last of nature, and perhaps suggest useful improvements winter, and there is no end to the matches of her break-in the management and adaptation of heat. Dr Franking. She will declare the girl is---God knows what---if lin, who never lost sight of practical utility in his riments with coloured cloths on the absorption of heat, scientific investigations, from the result of his expedrew the conclusion, that black clothes are not so fit to wear in a hot sunny climate or season as white ones, because in such clothes the body is more heated by the sun when we walk abroad, and is at the same time heated by the exercise; which double heat is apt to bring on putrid dangerous fevers;' that soldiers and seamen in tropical climates should have a white uniform; that white hats should be generally worn in summer; and that garden walls for fruit-trees would absorb more heat from being blackened. "Well," said Mrs Gresham, musingly, "after all, it is very odd; only fancy Mr Byfield taking an interest in a governess at all. Still, I must insert my advertisement, and I think I might substitute dancing for Greek; they are about equally useful, and one must not be too unreasonable." “Very considerate and good of you, Fanny," said her sister; but believe me, the more you require the more you will get; and I am not sure that Mrs Ryal was wrong about the sciences; every day something fresh starts up that no one ever heard of before, and one must be able to talk about it; it is really very fatiguing to keep up with all the new things, and somehow I do not think the credit one gets by the knowledge is half enough to repay one for the labour." "Mr Gresham says the whole system, or, as he calls it, so system, of female education is wrong." "My dear Fanny, how absurd you are! What can men possibly know of female education? There is my husband, a worthy man as ever lived, and yet he will tell you that the whole object of female education should be to make women--now only imagine what?" "I am sure I do not know." "Why, good wives and mothers." "Both ladies laughed, and then Mrs Hylier exclaimed, "to think of my taking any one into my house under such circumstances! But at all events, I must prepare the children for their new governess." POPULAR INFORMATION ON SCIENCE. INFLUENCE OF COLOUR ON HEAT AND ODOur. Count Rumford and Sir Everard Home, on the contrary, come to a conclusion entirely the reverse of to live in a very warm climate, he would blacken his this. The count asserts, that if he were called upon skin or wear a black shirt; and Sir Everard, from direct experiments on himself and on a negro's skin, lays it down as evident, that the power of the sun's rays to scorch the skins of animals is destroyed when applied to a dark surface, although the absolute heat, in consequence of the absorption of the rays, is greater.' Sir Humphry Davy explains this fact by saying, 'that the radiant heat in the sun's rays is converted into sensible heat.' With all deference to the opinion of this great man, it by no means explains why the surface of the skin was kept comparatively cool. From the result of the experiments detailed, it is evident, that if a black surface absorbs caloric in greatest quantity, it also gives it out in the same proportion; and thus a circulation of heat is, as it were, established, calculated to promote the insensible perspiration, and to keep the body cool. This view is confirmed by the observed fact of the stronger odour exhaled by the bodies of black people. migan is a familiar example. Mr Selby remarks, that the black deep ochreous yellow plumage of the ptarmigan in spring and summer gradually gives place to a greyish white; the black spots become broken, and assume the appearance of zig-zag lines and specks. These, again, as the season advances, give place to the pure immaculate plumage which distinguishes both sexes in winter.' The display of colours in the plumage of the birds of tropical climates is also in strict accordance with the observed facts of the influence of colour over the absorption and radiation of heat. The metallic reflections and polished surface of the whole family of hummingbirds are admirably suited to their habits; and the coinsects, there is little doubt, serve some similar purlours of the wings of the Lepidoptera, in the class of the proper mean. In proportion to the diminution pose, in maintaining the temperature of the animals at of temperature and the distance from the equator, a corresponding dilution of colour in animals takes place, till in temperate countries it is almost uniformly of a sober grey. In the arctic regions, all colour except white and black disappears-modifications of which, with very little variety of other colours, form the summer and winter clothing of most of the northern tribes of birds. In the vegetable kingdom, I am disposed to believe that the colours of the petals of flowers serve some useful purpose in regard to preserving the temperaproper mean, and that the varied pencilling of nature ture of the parts necessary for reproduction at the has thus an object beyond merely pleasing the eye. In this view, the quality of colour, so widely extended, and so varied and blended in every class of natural bodies, acquires a further interest in addition to its ministering to the pleasures of sight, and affords a new instance of that benevolence and wisdom by which all the arrangements of matter are calculated to excite and gratify the mind directed to their investiga tion. Even in the inorganic portion of nature, and in northern climates, the portion of heat imbibed by the soil during a short summer, is prevented from escapning of winter; and thus the temperature necessary ing by the covering of snow which falls in the beginfor the scanty vegetation is kept up. By this white covering, vegetables are enabled to sustain a lengthened torpidity, without suffering from the injurious effects of frost; and the ground is preserved from partial alternations of temperature, till the influence of the sun at once converts the northern winter into summer, without the intervention of spring." In his investigations of the effect of colours in causing bodies to be more susceptible of odours, Dr Stark had much less aid from the inquiries of preceding philosophers. His attention being drawn to the subject by accident, he began a course of experiments, by putting a small quantity of black wool (ten grains), and an equal of white wool, into a close vessel beside some camphor-also similar quantities of each into a close drawer beside assafoetida―and found in both cases that the black had palpably become the most odorous. He repeated the experiment with cotton wool, and found the same result. Other experiments, in which red was introduced, gave to it, as far as the ordinary sense could judge, a medium degree of odorousness. Afterwards, he experimented with a variety of colours, and found the degrees of odorousness to be in the following order-black, blue, red, green, yellow, and white, which is nearly the order in Franklin's experiments respecting the heat-absorbing powers of bodies. He then tried black and white wool against black and white cotton, and found the black wool more odorous than the black cotton, and the white wool than the white cotton. It is to be observed, that he called in the senses of many persons to test the degrees of odorousness in all these experiments; yet, as no exact knowledge could be thus attained, he became "desirous that, if possible, at least one experiment should be devised, which would show, by the evidence of actual increase of weight, that one colour invariably attracted more of any odorous substance than another." "Upon considering," he adds, "the various odorous substances which could be easily volatilised without change, and whose odour was inseparable from the substance, I fixed upon camphor as the one best suited to my purpose. In an experiment of this nature, it was necessary that the camphor should be volatilised or converted into vapour, and that the coloured substances should be so placed as to come in contact with the camphor while in that state. It was therefore of the first importance to prevent currents of air within the vessel in which the experiment was conducted; and with this view I used a funnel-shaped vessel of tin plate, open at the top and bottom. This rested on a plate of sheet iron, in the centre of which the camphor to be volatilised was placed. The coloured substances, after being accurately weighed, were supported on a bent wire, and introduced through the upper aperture. This was then covered over with a plate of glass. Heat was now applied gently to volaThe feathered tribes which inhabit northern lati-tilise the camphor; and when the heat was withdrawn tudes afford still more remarkable instances of the and the apparatus cool, the coloured substances were adaptation of colour to the changes of temperature. again accurately weighed, and the difference in weight The summer dress of many families is so different noted down." from their winter plumage, as to have led many ornithologists to multiply species, as the animal was described in its winter or summer plumage. The ptar THE Comparative susceptibility of heat shown by Proceeding in this manner, Dr Stark went over all his former experiments, and invariably found an increase of weight, to a small but scientifically appreciable extent, in proportion to the depth of colour, and more in wool than in cotton, and more in silk than either and deaths is always an indication of the degree of comfort enjoyed, and of the consequent purity of morals; and, therefore, of the degree in which education is present or needed. A large number of children, and a large proportion of marriages, indicate physical and moral welfare, and therefore a comparative prevalence of education. A large number of births, and a small proportion of marriages, indicate the reverse. When these circumstances are taken in connexion with the prevailing occupations of the district to which they relate, the philanthropist has arrived at a sufficient certainty as to the means of education required, and the method in which they are to be applied.---Miss Martineau's How to Observe." Of the select experiments which he details, we cannot give even a selection; but, by way of specimen, we may mention that he found white, red, and black wool increased in weight respectively, %, and 1 grains, and white cotton increased 2%, white wool 2, and white silk 3% grains. "The general conclusion would appear to be, that animal substances have a greater attraction for odours than vegetable matters; and that all these have their power much increased by their greater darkness or intensity of colour. These experiments seem also to establish, that the absorption of odours by coloured substances is regulated by the same law which governs the absorption of light [We add to the above, that England now possesses an and heat. The analogy goes still further; for in other admirable system of registration, such as is here pointed experiments made with a view to ascertain this point, out. Scotland, however, is still without any national I invariably found that the power of colour in radi-arrangements on the subject. Parishes possess registers ating or giving out odours, was in strict relation to of baptisms, but not of births; registers of proclamations the radiation of heat in similar circumstances." Dr of marriages, but not of the solemnisation of marriages; Stark also experimented on this point with equally registers of burials, but not of deaths. In such a dissatisfactory results. For example, he "took pieces gracefully loose state of affairs, the statistics of births, of card, coloured, as before, black, dark-blue, brown, marriages, deaths, calculations as to public health, and orange-red, and white, and after having exposed them many other matters equally useful, cannot possibly be made up.] to the vapour of camphor, in the usual manner, they were taken out of the vessel, weighed, and left in the apartment for twenty-four hours. Upon carefully re-weighing the cards at the end of this period, it was found that the black had lost one grain; the blue nearly as much; the brownths of a grain; the red ths; and the whiteths of a grain. In about six hours after this, the black and blue had completely lost their camphor; the brown and red had the merest trace, inappreciable to a delicate balance; while the white still retained about th of a grain." It will readily occur to many minds, that these experiments afford grounds for some practical procedure with respect to the noxious emanations producing infection. It must appear likely that a white dress of cotton is the one in which a person could most safely go into an infected place. In fact, the Turkish quarantine regulations proceed upon this assumption in part, woollen clothes being held by them as in a higher degree dangerous than those composed of cotton. Dr Stark thinks it not unlikely that, amongst the measures taken to avert cholera in this country, the white-washing of houses was the most efficacious. Fumigations, he remarks, could only have a temporary influence; but "white-washing, although it had no specific effect on the contagious effluvium, yet, by constantly presenting a reflecting surface, prevented the absorption of the emanations by the walls, and thus tended, with moderate ventilation, to keep the air of the apartments pure. Dirty dark-coloured walls, on the contrary, would readily, as has been demonstrated, absorb noxious odours, and, as soon as the effect of fumigation was over, gradually give them out "Next, therefore," he adds, "to keeping the walls of hospitals, prisons, or apartments occupied by a number of individuals, of a white colour, I should suggest that the bedsteads, tables, and seats, should be painted white, and that the dress of the nurses and hospital-attendants should be of a light colour. A regulation of this kind would possess the double advantage of enabling cleanliness to be enforced, at the same time that it presented the least absorbent again." surface to the emanations of disease. A FEW WEEKS ON THE CONTINENT. MORAT-LAUSANNE. I MUST now invite the reader to accompany us in our excursion from Berne to Morat-a place off the usual route of tourists, as the country in this quarter has little to boast of in the form of romantic scenery, but which I preferred taking to any other on the way to Lausanne, for the purpose of visiting what has for several centuries been one of the chief historical scenes of Switzerland. Our journey lay in a south-westerly direction from Berne, through a generally well-cultured district, with substantial farm-houses, neatly kept enclosures, and roads as excellent as are to be found in any part of the world. On all sides were evidences of harvest having been gathered into the barns; the clanking sound of the flail, though perhaps not what would have called forth the admiration of our political economists, came at intervals pleasingly on the ear, as an evidence of rural wealth and industry; and on the open slopes, shone upon by a bright morning sun, men, women, and children, were busily preparing the ground for new crops of grain. Early in the forenoon we crossed the Sarine, a large tributary of the Aar, by an old-fashioned wooden bridge, and shortly afterwards entered the canton of Freyburg. An hour later brought us to the ancient little town of Morat, a kind of rude imitation of Berne on a small scale, with arcades beneath the houses. From sundry appearances, however, we were glad to see that the spirit of improvement had reached the place; the gates had been removed, the fosse filled up, and various parts of the old walls, which had done duty in more troublous times, were taken down. Morat stands close upon the eastern margin of a lake of the same name, the opposite shore of which is a low hill, separating it from the Lake of Neuchatel, and terminating in a morass on the north. The scenery, comparing it with other parts of the country, is altogether spiritless, and the sole interest is derived from historical associations; for on the unromantic banks of this sheet of water took place the greatest of the martial achievements which contributed to secure Swiss independence. The previous efforts to rid the On the same principle, it would appear that physicians and others, by dressing in black, have unluckily chosen the colour of all others most absorbent of odorous exhalations, and of course the most dangerous to themselves and patients. Facts have been mentioned which make it next to certain that contagious disease may be communicated to a third person through the medium of one who has been exposed to contagion, but himself not affected; and, indeed, the circumstance of infectious effluvia being capable of being carried by medical men from one patient to another, I should conceive one of the means by which such diseases are often propagated, in the ill-ventilated and dirty habitations of the poor exposed to their in-country of its intruders had been directed principally fluence." VALUE OF STATISTICAL REGISTERS. A faithful register of births, marriages, and deaths, is wished for by enlightened philanthropists of all advanced countries, far more as a test of national morals and the national welfare, than as a matter of the highest social convenience. For this the physiologist waits as the means of determining the physical condition of the nation; as a guide to him in suggesting and prescribing the methods by which the national health may be improved, and the average of life prolonged. For this the legislator waits as the means of determining the comparative proneness of the people to certain kinds of social offences, and the causes of that proneness; that the law may be framed so as to include (as all wise laws should include) the largest preventive influence with the greatest certainty of retribution. For this the philanthropist waits, as a guide to him in forming his scheme of universal education; and without this---without knowing how many need education altogether---how many under one set of circumstances, and how many under another---he can proceed only in darkness, or amidst the delusions of false lights. He is only perplexed by the partial knowledge, which is all that his utmost efforts enable him to obtain. The comparative ages of the dead will indicate to him not only the amount of health, but the comparative force of various species of disease; and from the character of its diseases, and the amount of its health, much of the moral state of a people may be safely pronounced upon. The proportion of marriages to births himself up to despair, saw no one, drank deeply in solitude, and became almost insane. At length, however, he regained his activity, and meditating solely on vengeance, he re-assembled at Lausanne an army of upwards of 40,000 men, with which he advanced upon Morat. It was the scene of the extraordinary exploit which occurred on this occasion, that we had now come hither to examine. The battle-field of Morat lies at the distance of rather more than an English mile south from the town, and we proceeded towards it by the high road lake on our right, and a fine sloping hill partitioned to Freyburg, with the wide-expanded waters of the into well-cultivated fields, and ornamented with trees and cottages, on our left. It was on the face of this now tranquil upland, from its summit to the edge of the lake, that the heat of the conflict took place. With our backs towards the town, and in front the line of country through which Charles's forces were marched forward to their well-merited doom, we could easily picture the details of this celebrated encounter, of which I shall allow the Swiss historian, Zschokke, to give his short and pithy account. Speaking of the defence offered by Morat to the progress of the Burgundians, he observes-" Adrian de Bubenberg, with 600 soldiers, and the inhabitants of the town, made a still more obstinate and effectual resistance than had been done by the defenders of Grandson. Whilst the duke thus found himself arrested in his course, the confederates and their friends once more collected their forces. Morat was by this time in imminent danger. Breaches had been made in the walls and towers, and the rampart had given way; but the courage of Bubenberg, and the heroes commanded by him, remained unshaken, and they held out firmly until they beheld the arrival, from all sides, of the confederates and their allies from Bienne, Alsace, Basil, St Gall, and Schaffhausen. These were the first to come forward. Upon their steps, in spite of the inclement weather and the bad roads, marched in haste the men of Zurich, Thurgovie, Argovie, and Sargans. John Waldmann, leader of the Zurichois, arrived at Berne on the eve before the battle, and granted to his jaded troops only a few hours of repose. At the hour of ten at night, the bugle sounded for the resumption of the march. The city of Berne was illuminated on the occasion, and tables were spread out before every house for the refreshment of the patriot soldiery. The route was taken for Morat amid the darkness of night, and in the face of a storm of wind and rain. The day dawned; it was the 22d of June; the sky was overcast with clouds, and the rain still fell in torrents. The Burgundians displayed their vast lines before the eyes of the Swiss, who numbered scarcely 30,000 combatants. Before giving the signal of attack, John de Hallwyl fell on his knees, with his whole army, to invoke the assistance of the Almighty in this trying moment for their beloved country. While they prayed, the sun broke through the clouds, and, on the instant, the Swiss commander arose waving his sword aloft, he exclaimed — Rise, rise, confederated brethren ! God smiles upon our coming victory!' As he spoke, the clang of arms resounded; the attack was made ; and soon the battle raged from the heights to the lake. Hallwyl commanded on the left; on the right was engaged the flower of the Swiss army, under the orders of John Waldmann; and Adrian de Buben against the dukes of Austria; on this occasion, the mountaineers were called on to battle with a new and still more audacious foe, Duke Charles of Burgundy, who, on the plea that they were allies of Louisberg had the guidance of the troops stationed amid XI. of France, desired to bring them to that kind of subjection to which he had already reduced the rebellious Liegeois. This infamous encroachment on the rights of a people with whom he had no proper concern, was made in the year 1476; and never, in the whole annals of human strife, was an invader so justly punished. The war commenced by an attack on the small fortified town of Grandson, situated near the southern extremity of the Lake of Neuchatel, which having captured, he put its 800 defenders to death, by causing them to be stripped and hung upon the trees of the neighbouring forest. In two days later, was fought the famous battle of Grandson, in which the confederated army of Swiss, by adroitly hemming in the Burgundians close upon the lake, and attacking them from the lower slopes of the Jura, completely defeated them, with an immense slaughter. Charles left 50,000 men, and all his valuable equipage, behind him, and fled through the mountains with only a few personal followers. Arrived at Nozeroy, and writhing under the humiliation of so signal a defeat, he gave the trees on the shores of the lake. Hallwyl had to sustain a fearful struggle, and he did sustain it, till he beheld the appearance of the white-haired chief of Lucerne, Gaspard de Herstenstein, on the rising ground behind the enemy. Death now rioted in the ranks of the Burgundians; in front and in rear they were massacred; thousands battled obstinately, thousands fell, and thousands took to flight. The duke, pale and dismayed, seeing that all was lost, fled with a train of scarcely thirty attendants, and reached the banks of Lake Leman. Fifteen thousand of his troops lay on the plain of Morat, in its lake, and in the town of Avenches. A great number, seeking to save themselves, had perished in the waters and neighbouring marshes; the rest were completely dispersed. The tents, provisions, and treasures of the enemy, became the prize of the victors. The dead were thrown into pits amid quick-lime, and earth spread over them." Some years afterwards, the citizens of Morat formed a collection of the bones of the Burgundians, as a warning to those who might afterwards attempt the which Mont Blanc, with its serrated snowy scalp, conquest of Switzerland. Four years later, they The overturned monument was at first replaced by a tree of Liberty; to this succeeded a linden tree, surrounded by a railing. But on the 9th of January, 1821, the cantonal authorities of Freyburg voted a sum of 6000 francs for the erection of an obelisk on the spot. This was duly accomplished, and now a remarkably handsome obelisk of sandstone, apparently about forty feet in height, is seen standing on an open gravelled space, adjoining the public road, and overlooking the large expanse of lake. On one of its sides is an inscription in Latin, expressing that "The Republic of Freyburg signalises the victory of the 22d of June, 1476, gained by the united efforts of their ancestors, by this new monument, erected in the year 1822." I am afraid I have detained the reader with these scraps of old-world history; but surely one may well be excused for pausing for a moment over a scene so intimately associated with the independence of a brave and free people. Morat was the Bannockburn of Switzerland, for the confederated cantons now assumed a political standing from which they were never afterwards driven-although, it may be remarked, they did not rid themselves of the German emperors till 1499, or wrench Vaud and Geneva from the dukes of Savoy till 1536. In the meanwhile, what became of Charles the Bold of Burgundy? His sun set on the plain of Morat. In about half a year after, in an equally futile attempt on Lorraine, he perished ingloriously at the battle of Nancy (January 7, 1477), when his forces were utterly destroyed; his body was found a few days afterwards, immersed among ice and mud in a ditch, and so disfigured that he was only recognised by the length of his beard and nails, which he had allowed to grow since the period of his defeat at Morat. The page of history presents few more striking instances of the retributive punishment of inordinate pride, ferocity, and ambition. a Lausanne, the capital of Vaud, occupies an awkward situation on the summits and declivities of two or three broad knolls, the southern face of which forms descending slope of at least a mile to the village of Ouchy, on the margin of the lake. The streets are irregular, though beginning to be improved in various ways; the greatest of all the improvements going forward being the erection of a splendid bridge of twentytwo arches, designed to connect the main street with the open high ground on the north-that by which we had entered from Yverdun. This great work, which is to cost the canton 500,000 francs-not bad for a small republic, the size of an English county-and is forming of hard blue stone, imported from the opposite shores of Savoy, will be of incalculable service as an approach; for hitherto the only entrance to the town, in this direction, has been by a street of such excessive steepness that the diligence does not attempt to face it. When finished, the new thoroughfare will run up straight to the door of the Gibbon-a good thing for the landlord, who takes a particular interest in the undertaking, and kindly volunteers a great deal of local chat on the subject to his English customers, who may be in the proportion of ninety-nine in every hundred who enter his establishment. The house once occupied by Gibbon is situated towards the rear of the hotel which has adopted his name, at the side of the long descending road which proceeds to Ouchy, and separated from the main street by the old church of St Francis. It is an antique dwelling of the French fashion, with plastered walls and dark-tiled roof, offering only one storey to the small courtyard in front, but, from the steepness of the hill, making two storeys behind. It is at present inhabited by a private family, one of whose domestics conducted us over the premises. The most interesting point is in the garden, to which we are conducted by a stair and winding passage, opening upon the berceau walk which formed the author's favourite promenade during the composition of his great work. ties, and acquirements in various branches of learning. On the west, not to speak of Geneva, lies Ferney, long the seat of Voltaire, and near it Coppet, the residence of Necker and his illustrious daughter Madame de Staël; while on the east is Clarens, the abode of Rousseau. Lord Byron, whose passionate lines on Lake Leman, in calm and storm, require no repetition, resided at different places on its shores; among others at Diodati, near Geneva, where he wrote his "Manfred," and the third canto of "Childe Harold," and Ouchy, below Lausanne, where he composed his "Prisoner of Chillon." Not the least remarkable circumstance in the history of Lake Leman is, that all its numerous admirers-Byron, when at Diodati, excepted-have taken up their abode on its northern or Swiss side. At the côté roti, or side offered to the full influence of the summer sun, the northern shore is unquestionably not only the most genial but every way the most beautiful. There is, however, another cause of preference. It has long enjoyed all the benefits of civil and religious liberty, whereas the territory on the south is under one of the most thorough despotisms in Europe—that of the Sardinian monarchy. A residence of a few days on the lake enabled us to observe the striking difference between these two conditions. Looking out from the heights of Lausanne, you see all along the Swiss side incontestible evidences of civilisation, comfort, and industry-ports with their small sailing craft, and steamers darting from point to point, leaving and taking up passengers. On the opposite shore all seems dull, antiquated, and unimproved; the bulk of the country bleak and desolate, while not a single visit is permitted by steam-vessels at any of the small lake-side towns. A more close and vivid contrast between a country managed by its own people, and one under the government of others, could scarcely be more affectingly exhibited. Perhaps no part of Europe has undergone so many political changes as the modern canton of Pays de Vaud, stretching along the northern shore of Lake Leman. One after the other, it has been possessed and domineered over by Romans, Franks, Burgundians, the emperors of Germany, the dukes of Zahringen, the counts of Kyburg, the barons of Vaud, and dukes of Savoy, and bishops of Lausanne.* In 1536, the Bernese, by force of arms, as already mentioned, wrested the district from the reigning dukes of Savoy-of whose cruelties we shall have something to say when we reach Chillon-and henceforth it became a part of the canton of Berne till 1798, when it was rendered independent as a part of the Helvetian republic. In 1803, by the act of mediation of Napoleon, this republic was dissolved, and Vaud now became a distinct canton in the Swiss confederacy. This lasted till 1814, when it lost partly its democratic constitution, and fell under the jurisdiction of certain privileged orders. In 1830, this preposterous arrangement was overturned by a revolution; and the canton, in its independent state, became what it now is a free democracy like that of Berne, Zurich, and the other revolutionised cantons. This part of Switzerland, therefore, has had a remarkable luck for changes, but in the main for the better. Settled very much by a people of a similar origin to that of the French, and having frequently had an intimate connexion with France, its vernacular language is French, in which respect it resembles Neuchatel, part of Freyburg, and Geneva. With the latter canton it embraced the Reformation with great zeal, and is now distinguished as one of the freest Protestant cantons. Yet, as in all other countries over which the French Revolution swept with fury, religion is little better than the ghost of what it was in former times. Nevertheless, the canton is a pattern of order, decency of behaviour, and also respectability of appearance in its people; while its social economy embraces the fact, puzzling to our political economists, of a population which increases not beyond the means of subsistence, and consequently does not exhibit any thing like those sinks of misery which are now plenteously dotted over the surface of English society. Since the revolution of 1830, the canton has been eminently prosperous in its affairs, and improvements are seen effecting in all quarters. Education is liberally promoted; all forms of worship are freely exercised- -a very beautiful After having seen what was worthy of observation in this part of the country, there was nothing to detain us, and we proceeded by an afternoon's ride to Neuchatel-a fine old town in the French style, situated at the base of the vine-clad Jura, and close upon the lake of the same name. As it was afterwards our fortune to take this city, and the district of country beyond it among the mountains, in our journey into France, I shall here postpone any notice of them, and proceed with the reader on the way to Lausanne. The first part of the journey we performed on board a small steam-boat, which, in from three to four hours, carried us to the farther extremity of the lake at Yverdun-a substantial but dirty town, and the first No garden scene can be conceived more delicious we came to in the canton of Vaud. Here, it will be than this little spot-a trimly-kept walk, shaded with remembered, the benevolent but whimsical Pestalozzi green acacias in full leaf; borders of flowers and attempted to carry his educational projects into exe-orange-trees, enriching the air with their perfume; eution, and failed-more, however, from want of ma- the walls of the house and terrace beyond covered nagement than any substantial defect in principle. with vines and fig-trees, each with its clusters of fruit; The country betwixt Yverdun and Lausanne may above all, glimpses through the bushes of the long be said to consist of an enormously broad hill, not descending slope towards the lake-disclosing a uniparticularly high, but toilsome enough to the cattle versal vine-garden, while in the distance the scene is whose duty is to drag up the diligence. The land is closed with the chain of the Savoy peaks. Such was cultivated to the summit, and for several miles we the spot occupied for several years by Gibbon, while have a view to the right of the beauteous flat vale writing his immortal production; and here, in an stretching southwards from the Lake of Neuchatel arbour at the extremity of the walk, which has unfortowards Lake Leman; and beyond it, the whole face tunately been removed in the progress of adjoining was, it appears, infested by a host of insects, which ravaged the of the Jura range, with its lofty peaks shrouded in improvements, did he finish his undertaking. His mists, and forming the great physical barrier between own words will doubtless recur to remembrance: "It France and Switzerland. Before us one small height was on the day, or rather the night, of the 27th of succeeds another, each tantalising us with the hope of June 1787, between the hours of eleven and twelve, our being able to catch from its summit the first that I wrote the last line of the last page in a sumglimpse of Lake Leman, or Lake of Geneva, as it is mer-house in my garden. After laying down my pen, sometimes and not very correctly called, whose banks I took several turns in a berceau, or covered walk of were to be the limit of our pilgrimage. The lake, acacias, which commands a prospect of the country, however, is not seen till we are almost upon it, and the lake, and the mountains. The air was temperate, within a mile or so of Lausanne, when, all at once, the sky serene, the silver orb of the moon was reflected this glorious sheet of water, an inland sea in appear- from the waves, and all nature was silent." ance, is seen lying in the depth in front glittering under the intense splendour of the mid-day sunits northern shore on which we are, a scene of soft variegated beauty-vineyards, cottages, and white tranquil villas, extending as far as the eye can reach, and contrasting singularly with the dark, cheerless country on the opposite coast, marked by the long rugged line of the Savoy mountains, in the bosom of Lausanne may be said to form the centre point in a district whose fate it has been to afford a residence to many individuals distinguished for their literary abili *The French, who systematically misspell and mispronounce foreign proper names, call this the Hotel Hi-bon. A stranger at first has a difficulty in knowing who they mean by Hi-bon. * According to local historians, the bishops of Lausanne were a powerful set of prince-prelates, whose spiritual influence was not limited to the human species, but extended also over the tribes of lower animals. In 1479, the country around Lausanne roots of the plants, everywhere causing serious inconvenience and loss. This unforeseen and alarming pest was reported by Frikart, the Chancellor of Berne, to the Bishop of Lausanne, counselling his lordship to have the intruders summoned before his tribunal, and there be made to answer for their conduct. The suggestion appeared reasonable; and to give the animals every chance of justice, an advocate of infamous character, recently deceased, was appointed to conduct their case. The day set apart for the trial arrived, and the suit came to a hearing; but as the advocate for the defendants did not make his appearance, the insects were pronounced contumacious, and judginent went against them. Les insects furent excommuniés, proscrits au nom de la Sainte Trinité, et condamnés à sortir des toutes les terres du diocese de Lausanne." (The insects were excommunicated, proscribed in the name of the Holy Trinity, and condemned to banishment from every part of the diocese of Lausanne.) This order, it is mentioned, still exists in its original form. The historians of Berne, who have transmitted the fact, do not seem to have considered it any way remarkable; and only observe that, according to custom, the sentence had the effect of remedying the evil! English chapel at Lausanne being one of the tangible evidences of this freedom of opinion; and, in short, the country seems to be pursuing a fair course of national and individual prosperity. WORDSWORTH'S NEW POEMS. A NEW volume from the pen of William Wordsworth, is a gift which the public will now receive with general gratitude. The meed of popular favour was for a time withheld from the poet of Rydal, and chiefly in consequence of his own unfortunate promulgation of certain laws of literary composition, to which the world at large could not give their assent; but it was ultimately found, that though he observed these rules in a few instances, as in the case of the "Idiot Boy," "Harry Blake and Goody Gill," and some other short pieces, the majority of his poems were modelled after the loftiest exemplars of our language, and had few parallels in it, whether as regarded dignity of diction or elevation of thought. The effect of the mistake under which the public laboured with respect to Mr Wordsworth, is partly shown by the present volume, which contains many pieces composed long ago, and which the writer has only at the eleventh hour been encouraged to give to the public. Among other productions, we find here the "Tragedy of the Borderers," written in 1795-6, and respecting which great curiosity has been felt by the poet's admirers, its existence having been very generally known for many by-past years. As the volume only adds to the amount of Mr Wordsworth's works, and gives no novelty in any other respect, it is scarcely necessary, except for form's sake, to present any specimens of its contents. We are tempted, however, to transfer to our columns one or two pieces or passages which have fallen upon our own feelings with an effect peculiarly Wordsworthian, and which we have no doubt will give equal pleasure to our readers. One of these is the conclusion of a poem entitled "Musings near Aquapendente," written during a tour in Italy. يا "Time flows-nor winds, To her purblind guide Expediency; and so The best that should keep pace with it, and must, No faculty within us which the Soul Can spare, and humblest earthly Weal demands, Given or acquired, to raise us from the mire, More of ennobling impulse from the past, Which, in the giddiness of self-applause, So droop'd Adonis, bathed in sanguine dew His own dejection, downcast flower! could share With thine, and gave the mournful name which thou wilt ever bear." The following lines to a Redbreast, written during sickness, are said to be from the pen of a female relative, and remind us of the simple and touching style of the poet : : Stay, little cheerful robin! stay, A charm that thought cannot destroy, Then, little bird, this boon confer: Of everlasting spring." add little to the author's reputation. Though conAs for the tragedy of the Borderers, it will probably taining fine thoughts scattered here and there, it is unfitted for exhibition on the stage, and indeed, as the author admits, was never intended for production in public. THE EARLY DAYS OF NAPOLEON. as the patriarch of freedom, the precursor of your republic; so will posterity think, and so do the people now believe. We owe to him all, even the happiness of being a portion of the French republic. He ever enjoys our confidence. Repeal your decree, and render us happy." Napoleon's bold appeal was not listened to, and Paoli was compelled to look for safety to Eng land. Another person who exercised much influence over Napoleon in his youth, was Father Dupuy, sub-principal of the school of Brienne. As became common in the case of Corsican families of respectability, after the island was incorporated with France, Napoleon was sent to the college of Autun at the age of nine, and afterwards to the school of Brienne. Bourrienne mentions, in his memoirs of Bonaparte, that the Emperor never could spell properly; but he does not tell the reason. The fact was, that Napoleon could not speak a word of French when he came to the school first mentioned. He picked up the tongue through his intercourse with others, but never was taught it grammatically. He was engaged in learning the classics, when he ought to have been set to the French language by his teachers. His excessively careless penmanship in later days was supposed to be partly affected, in order to hide his faulty orthography. Dupuy, who formed a strong attachment to Napoleon, and was shown the essays from his pen, did all he could to correct the style and spelling, but the evil was not thoroughly removable. One of the early essays of Napoleon was a History of Corsica, which was composed in the form of letters, addressed to the Abbé Raynal. Lucien Bonaparte mentions this work in his memoirs. "It was written," he says, "in the vacation of 1790, at Ajaccio, and two copies were made of it by myself. One was sent to the Abbé Raynal, who found the composition so remarkable that he showed it to Mirabeau. The latter, on returning it, said to Raynal, that this little history seemed to him THERE hangs over the boyish days of Napoleon to indicate a genius of the first order. Napoleon was Bonaparte a mystery somewhat similar to that which delighted with these praises." The work was reprerests on the opening years of Shakspeare. In the sented by Lucien as lost, but in reality it is still in case of the latter, we are totally at a loss to compre-existence, having formed part of a bundle of early hend by what species of training that wonderful mind writings lodged by Napoleon in the hands of Cardinal was developed, and whence was derived that boundless Fesch. It is written with great vigour, and an uncomknowledge of human nature, and of the phenomena promising boldness of speech. Every page proves, of the universe, which his writings display. With moreover, that the author had been indefatigable in early life of Napoleon, wondering in what manner that documents. Napoleon's mode of reading books was the like feelings of uncertainty do we muse upon the his researches into authorities, and even unpublished prodigious amount of intelligence was accumulated, peculiar, and well calculated to fix on his memory which gave him such a sway in after-days over his whatever fell under his eye. His custom was to read fellow-men, and rendered him never for one instant at with the pen in his hand, and to mark passages which a loss, amid the most varied and trying circumstances he approved or disapproved; and frequently, when in which man could be called upon to act. Bonaparte he was especially struck with any thing, he made it appeared to burst at once upon the world with the the subject of a distinct critical disquisition. In this experience of fifty lives concentrated in his young manner did he go over all the most grave and learned mind, ready to take up at will the parts of warrior, works in the stores of literature. Herodotus, Strabo, ruler, legislator, or diplomatist, and to cope with and Plutarch, and all the other historians both of Greece foil those who had grown grey in studying the duties of and Rome; the annals of England, and all the most but one or other of these difficult characters. These important modern countries in the world; natural circumstances throw a peculiar interest over the youth history, geography, medicine, and physics; all of these of Napoleon. Fortunately, during the period of the branches of learning his papers show him to have consulate, he gave directions for the preservation of studied attentively. But, above all, his favourite various letters and papers connected with his early authors were Filangieri, Mably, Necker, Smith, and history, and from a notice of these, lately published other writers on political economy, legislation, and in France,* we shall proceed to draw several parti- the moral sciences generally. For seven years, namely, from 1786 to 1793, while a student and lieutenant of artillery, now in one place and now in another, such was the training to which his papers show him to have subjected himself. Men have marvelled that the soldier of Italy should have started up, as it seemed, a legislator by intuition,-intuition; such is the word under which men too frequently shelter their own apathy and deficiencies. Years of patient study, while other lads were fooling away their time, would, at least in this instance, have been a more correct form of expression. Napoleon's ability as a soldier was not less puzzling; but comprehensiveness and promptitude of thought, produced by the same preparatory studies, united with a sound physical development, formed the true explanation of the phenomenon. What is curious, however, Bonaparte sometimes left his grave studies for the slightest of all varieties of literary composition: he wrote novels. One of these was an English romance, entitled The Earl of Essex, being founded on the story of Queen Elizabeth's unfortunate favourite. Another tale was composed by him on a Corsican subject, and he also wrote some oriental apologues, bearing covertly on the politics of the passing day. The idea of the man who wielded such mighty elements in after days, devoting time to storywriting, is startling enough. It has the same apparent incongruity as the idea of his being glad to borrow a few shillings from Bourrienne in the days of his lieutenantship. culars. Paoli, the Corsican patriot, seems to have been a material instrument in moulding the character of the young Napoleon. Genoa had assumed the right of selling Corsica to France, in the time of Louis XV., and that monarch sent an army to take possession of it. The Corsicans resisted, under the guidance of Paoli. Charles Bonaparte was a warm partisan of that chief; and, in the campaign of 1769, which gave France the ascendancy, was personally in the field with his wife Letitia, who, at that very time, in the midst of peril and alarm, gave birth to Napoleon. During the childhood of the latter, Paoli was constantly in the mouths of those around him, and he grew up with a deep admiration of the character of the exiled general, then living in England. When the French Revolution broke out, Paoli was recalled, and Napoleon became his close personal friend. The old general had penetration enough to discern the remarkable character of the youth. "You are one of Plutarch's men," he used to say to him-a compliment of no slight kind. It has been often asserted, that Napoleon never acted under the impulse of feeling, but was always guided by motives of self-interest and cold calculation. Not so was it when Paoli, having incurred the suspicion of the French Convention for his denunciations of the execution of Louis XVI., was summoned to appear and answer for himself in Paris. Napoleon, who had then received a commission in the French service in Corsica, had the generous boldness to write to the Convention in his old friend's defence. "One of your decrees," says the letter, "has deeply The following upon the flower called Love lies Bleed-afflicted the citizens of Ajaccio; it is that which ing, seems to us exquisite : "You call it, 'Love lies Bleeding'-so you may, orders an old man of seventy, loaded with infirmities, *In the Revue des Deux Mondes. We cannot well give a specimen of the stories of Napoleon, but our space permits of our quoting one of the most remarkable of all his papers in place of these. This is a document in which he discusses the propriety of suicide. Many features of his future character seem to have originated in youth in his isolated position. From the age of nine to seventeen, he was absent from home. He dwelt alone, and formed those habits of self-dependence which at once constituted a great quality in him, and isolated him, in a measure, from human sympathies. His note book was the sole confidant of his secrets in his youth. Whatever struck him forcibly, even a simple conversation with a lady, was committed to paper, and, beyond question, this plan led him ever to reason coolly before action. The following are his thoughts on the subject of self-destruction. "Ever alone in the midst of men, I return to dream with myself, and to give myself up to all the vivacity of my melancholy. To what point is it now directed? To the side of death. Yet in the morning of my days, I may hope to live a long time. I have been absent seven years from my country. What pleasure shall I not taste in revisiting, in four months, my relatives and compatriots? Filled with the tender sensations which the remembrance of my youthful pleasures inspires, may I not conclude that my happiness will be complete! And what madness, then, urges me to wish for my destruction? Doubtless, I may say, what have I to do in this world? Since I must die, is it not as well to end my life at once? If I had passed through sixty years, I should respect the prejudices of my contemporaries, and wait patiently till nature had completed her course; but since I begin to experience misfortunes, since nothing gives me pleasure, why should I go on enduring unprosperous days? How far have men wandered from nature! How cowardly, base, and servile are they! What spectacle shall I behold in my native country? My compatriots, loaded with chains, tremblingly kiss the hand which crushes them. They are no more those brave Corsicans, whom a hero animated with his virtues; no more are they enemies of tyranny, luxury, sycophancy. Proud, and full of a noble consciousness of worth, a Corsican once lived happy. If he had employed the day on public affairs, his evenings passed away in the sweet society of a loving and beloved spouse; reason and enthusiasm effaced all the fatigues of the day; tender and natural affection rendered his nights comparable to those of the gods. But these happy times have disappeared with liberty, like passing dreams! Frenchmen, not content with having reft from us all that we cherished, ye have also corrupted our manners! The existing spectacle of my country, and my powerlessness to effect a change, form a new reason for quitting a scene, where I am compelled by duty to praise men whom virtue commands me to hate. When I arrive at my home, what aspect shall I assume, what language shall I hold? His country lost, a good citizen ought to die. Had I but one man to destroy, in order to deliver my countrymen, I should turn to the task in one instant, and avenge my country and its violated laws by plunging my steel into the tyrant's bosom. Life is a burden to me, because I enjoy no pleasure, and because all is pain to me; it is a burden because the men with whom I live, and probably shall always live, have manners as widely different from mine as the moon's light differs from that of the sun. I can not follow the sole mode of life which could make it endurable, and a disgust for all is the consequence." This passage affords a remarkable proof of the highreaching sentiments which, even at the age of seventeen, characterised Napoleon. The death which he meditates is the death of Cato, not of Chatterton. It is not the pressure of penury which disgusts the extraordinary boy with life, but the slavery of his country and the degradation of his species. There is ample evidence existing among his early papers to prove, that he was in his youth a genuine and ardent lover of republican liberty, and that he disliked the French, fixing his whole thoughts on Corsica. As his mind became matured, however, he saw that Corsica was too insignificant in extent, and possessed resources too limited, to permit it to flourish independently amid states so much superior to it in power; and he turned to France, as affording full scope for the development of those great problems in social government which occupied so much of his youthful attention. Among the thirty-eight bundles of papers consigned by Napoleon to Cardinal Fesch, one curious paper deserves to be briefly referred to. It is a Dialogue on Love, which proves how early his opinions had been formed on this, as on other points. He never was remarkable for sentiment, and, at the commencement of his dialogue, he speaks in this condemnatory manner of the feeling of affection between the sexes. "I believe it to be hurtful to society, and to the individual happiness of men ; I believe, at least, that it does more harm than good, and that a benefit would be conferred by that protecting power which should extinguish it, and deliver men from its influence." Notwithstand ing this denunciation, he was beyond question devotedly attached in his life to at least one womanJosephine. His letters to her from Italy carry passion even to extravagance. The writer in the Revue des Deux Mondes, from whom we derive these notices of Napoleon's early days, concludes by observing, that "every thing proves him to have exemplified, like other men of genius, that law of humanity which ordains that nothing great can be accomplished without great efforts. In spite of his superior talents, he had studied long and carefully those subjects in which he afterwards showed himself a master. During many years, he never ceased to read and reflect on the most profound existing works. If he displayed ideas so correct on legislation, finance, and social organisation, these ideas did not spring spontaneously from his brain. On the throne, he only reaped the fruits of the long labours of the poor lieutenant of artillery. He formed his character by the means suited for the development of superior men-by toil, solitude, meditation, and endurance. The Revolution offered to him a vast and brilliant field; but without that revolution, he would still have been distinguished, for characters like his seize on fortune, and make it serve them. Let it be no more said that chance elevated Napoleon. When, after seven years of retirement, he appeared for the first time on the stage of the world, he contained already all the germs of his future greatness. Nothing was fortuitous in his case. He struggled to rise, and left no occasion unused to make himself known. He himself, therefore, muɛt no more be permitted to ascribe his elevation to fatality." To these truths nothing can be added. Never was it more fully shown than in the case of Napoleon-that industry is the better part of genius. OSIER-WEAVING. BASKET-MAKING or osier-weaving is an art which seems to us to have a tendency, somehow or another, to call up pleasant reflections whenever the mind is directed to it. The cause of this perhaps is, that the art is a peculiarly neat and cleanly one; and partly, perhaps, because it affords occupation to so many of our poor fellow-creatures who have scarcely any other resource to turn to for bread-the infirm, the lame, and the blind. Possibly, moreover, the beautiful story of the Peruvian Basket-Maker, told in almost all reading-books for the young, may have an early influence in impressing the mind with a pleasing sense of the usefulness of this little art. Speaking for ourselves, all three causes, we believe, have had their effect; and if others have felt any similar impressions, some account of the basket-weaving process may not be unacceptable. The interweaving of twigs is an operation which suggests itself so naturally to man, that we cannot wonder at finding it practised by him in his rudest condition. The very birds teach it to him, for among them we have some clever twig-weavers. Plaiting of rushes comes more readily to the hands of boys than almost any other manual task, and the very simplest of all baskets are actually formed of this material. Some of the Van Diemen's Land tribes make (or rather did make, for the last native of that island was hanged lately) baskets of strong rushes by tying the ends merely, and keeping the middle parts swelled out by a cross band or two. These tribes stood very low in the scale of civilisation. Some other Australasians, a little more civilised, have been observed to make baskets of leaves so dexterously intertwined as to hold liquids without spilling. Of all the rude nations, in truth, with whom we have become acquainted, not one is ignorant of this art; and there is every reason to conclude that past times were in this respect like the present. Our own ancestors, "While yet our England was a wolfish den," were famous for their skill in basket-making, as Martial tells us that their manufactures were brought to Rome in great quantities, and, like our oysters, sold there for extravagant prices. the whole bottom be occupied with them. To form the sides, a number of upright rods with sharpened points are forced between the rods of the bottom, or Around are plaited with them towards the centre. these perpendicular ribs other rods are woven in and out alternately, until the sides also are complete. The rim of the basket is chiefly formed by turning down the ends of the upright rods, and plaiting them over one another. Sharp-pointed wands are forced down through the rim, and pinned on each side to form the handle. They are usually plaited together more or less intricately. It would be a waste of time to describe the mode of making rounded baskets, their construction being so visibly simple. Both the cross ribs and the longitudinal wands pass usually from rim to rim, and are there turned over a strong encircling wand, and fixed by a few plaitings afterwards. Considering the great simplicity of construction of the common willow baskets, and their usefulness in many respects, it strikes us that our peasantry are by no means so thrifty and careful as they might be in respect to these matters. We have no ill-will whatever to tinkers and gipsies, and admit that no very large sums are requisite to purchase brown baskets for the necessities of a farmer's or cottar's establishment; yet the old maxims are good ones, which recommend people never to look to others for a service which they can do for themselves, and to take care of the small sums, as the large ones will then look after themselves. Therefore, seeing that clumps of willows are nowhere very scarce over old Scotland, we imagine that the long nights might often be spent by the rustic ingle in making the handy articles under notice with greater advantage than in gossipry. The little story of the Peruvian Basket-Maker, which, though an invention, conveys a moral of daily applicability, might teach parents that a species of useful knowledge, despised under certain circumstances, might in others become of paramount importance. In the tale mentioned, we are told that a proud gentleman when a king, from whom both of them stood at so scorned a poor basket-maker as of an inferior species, great a distance as to seem equal, took it into his head to send them away together to a savage island, and to leave them there in nudity, that the assumed natural superiority of the one might have scope for display if it existed. The luxuriously-nurtured gentleman was plunged in misery by his exposure, and would have perished but for his contemned companion. Savages discovered them; the gentleman could neither defend himself nor do aught for his life. But the basketmaker had a resource. Making signs for the savages to wait, he set to work on some rushes, and in a few minutes plaited a cap for one of the chiefs, who donned it with rapture. Others were called for instantly, and, in brief, the basket-maker became the delight of the tribe. At his intreaty the gentleman's life was spared; but seeing him to be of no use, the savages despised him utterly. Here was a lesson given to him. The poor man was far above him in the eyes of those who were not blinded by artificial distinctions; and the petty art which he had despised was the means of saving his life. So runs the moral, and, as observed, it is in part applicable every hour of the day. We do not know to what we may come in this world of changes, casualties, and sufferings; and the pettiest accession of really useful knowledge ought not to be contemned by us. In days and places where nailing, dove-tailing, jointing, and hingeing were arts unknown, plaiting was the most natural of all resources and substitutes. Hence not only utensils such as baskets, but houses or huts, scallops, shields, and sword-hilts, and the like articles, were all formed from the same material, being rendered serviceable by coverings of hides, another ready resort in rude regions. At the present day, in some parts of the east, half the necessary implements of life are made of wicker-work, the bamboo, from its strength This is a digression, but not without a purpose. and elasticity, giving peculiar facilities for such manu- The art of basket-working has been neglected in Brifactures. Boats of hide and bamboo can be made by tain, but especially in Scotland; so much so, that a half-a-dozen men in as many hours, when it is neces- patriotic society for the improvement of arts and sary to cross a river; and these articles can be con- sciences some time ago offered premiums for the culstructed of such strength, that thirty men, and even tivation of the best kinds of materials for the craft cattle, can be transported in them from bank to bank. of basket-making. Mr Phillips, of Ely, was conseTo attend, however, to basket-making in particular. quently induced to make some experiments, by which Osiers or willows are the usual materials employed in he gained the reward. He found that there were about this manufacture. The wands are cut by the roots, fourteen or fifteen varieties of the osier-willow; and and if intended for the finer kinds of work, are soaked that but a few of them were well fitted for basketfor a time in water previously to their being peeled. making. The grey or brindled osier, the bark of This is done by means of a brake or iron instrument, which is marked by red streaks, is hardy, tough, and through which they are drawn. As the natural sap bleaches well, but it is rare in Britain. The other prinof the wands greatly injures the work, they are always cipal species are the Welsh willow, of which there are dried in the sun, whether peeled or unpeeled, before two kinds, one red and the other white; the Spanish use. One of the circumstances that renders osier-willow; the new willow; the Kent willow; and the work a ready resource to persons incapacitated from French willow. The latter is held the best, particuengaging in other work, is the very small number of larly for light purposes. It is grown in Britain to a implements required for the craft. A brake, such as considerable extent, yet large quantities have annually has been mentioned, a knife or two, and a splitter, to be imported from the continent. consisting of two edge-tools placed at right angles, for cleaving the wood longitudinally into one or more splits, are all or nearly all the tools required. The workman arranges his wands into bundles according to their strength, the largest being set apart by him for the rims and binding-rods of the basket. When the artificer begins to an ordinary flat-bottomed basket, his first operation is to form the slat, as it is called, or woof, out of which the osier web is to be formed. He lays down a number of wands, cut each of a little greater length than is required, and arranges them at a short distance from one another, and in a parallel position. These wands are then crossed at right angles by two rods, each of which passes alternately above and below the parallel wands, thus keeping them in their places. The cross rods are chosen of great length, and their loose ends are turned and woven under and over the pairs of short ends all round the bottom, until the whole be woven in. The same thing is done with the other rod, and then additional long rods are woven in in a similar way, until The Unquestionably, this might be remedied. willow, in all its forms, grows well in the British climate, and indeed better there, perhaps, than in more southerly climes; so that there appears no good reason why an ample supply should not be obtained at home for the home market. Unfortunately, however, in agricultural matters above all others we seem to cling with tenacity to old forms and customs. To introduce a new seed, or improved article of any kind for culture, though its merits may be fully proven, is one of the most difficult things imaginable; and every body remembers how ludicrously the same anti-innovating spirit was exhibited in the matter of barnfanners, which the old rustics denounced as demoniacal and heretical in the extreme. Some such feelings seem to have caused the agricultural population to neglect the call made by the society for the improvement of arts and manufactures some years ago. People still persist in the hopeless attempt to grow corn and wheat out of undrainable land, though crops of willows, which require a humid soil, and are in constant request |